Three Long Years
by The Cat's Favorite Pyjamas
Summary: I always knew you'd come back. –Ulquihime–


_I always knew you'd come back. –Ulquihime—_

**A/N:** _And here I am again, guys! This time with a lovely Bleach fic. It's totally un-beta'd and everything, so expect a lot of really fail errors. Haha, I'm just out of inspiration right now so I'm writing things like this until I can get back in my groove to finish my Naruto fic. I had a lot of fun with this one; maybe I should make it multi-chapter? Tell me if you think that's a good idea. It was totally spur-of-the-moment after reading this week's Bleach chapter, where I saw that some of the espada are back. It's also partially inspired by Gabrielmanga on Deviantart writing a short manga about the end of Bleach a while ago, where Ulquiorra returns and he and Orihime reunite. I'm a huuuge Ulquihime shipper so you know what that might do to me. X3_

**Disclaimer:**___Bleach is property of Tite Kubo. If I owned Bleach, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I?_

Three Long Years

It had been twelve months, and the air was getting cold.

Eighteen, and she was starting to wonder if she had dreamed it all.

Twenty-four, and it took every part of her being to promise herself that he would come back to her again.

Thirty, and she cried every night.

Now she was at thirty-six. Thirty-six months since she had left Hueco Mundo. Things had changed drastically all around her; Ichigo had been stripped of his powers when he defeated Aizen. Uryuu was the only one among them who still eradicated hollows. She started feeling like spirits were just figments of her imagination. No one talked about them, no one even acted like they remembered the horrible battle between the shinigami and the espada.

But she remembered.

Oh, she _remembered._ Every touch she shared, every word, and even that powerful slap…she remembered everything about him.

About Ulquiorra.

And now, as she walked down the street, empty-eyed, a frown on her face…

She wondered again. Would she ever see him again? She had done everything she could to save him; she remembered the huge healing light as she screamed the words at the top of her lungs.

As she remembered the time, she whispered, just under her breath: "_I reject…"_

Tears were building in her eyes. This happened every time she thought about him—which was more and more, every day…

She had failed to realize how she felt about Ulquiorra until he was gone from her life. And then, it had hit her full-blast, this feeling of love…and of loss.

Yes, she had loved Ulquiorra. She had loved him more than red bean paste, and putting chocolate in her curry rice…

She had loved him more than her brother.

He was gone, now. Her precious Ulquiorra. Once so empty, but that gaze she got from him in those last moments…

"I'm not afraid of you, Ulquiorra," she mouthed quietly as she stepped up to her home. "I was never afraid. Not of you." She unlocked the door and walked inside.

The moment the door closed, she slid down the frame with tears in her eyes. Where was he…? She knew she had rejected his very death—his turning to ash. She had seen his body reform beneath her, and then—and then—

Nothing. He disappeared, not even leaving ash behind anymore. There was nothing to reject—because there was truly nothing there. Her Ulquiorra had vanished.

She spent those first few weeks once they returned…not just waiting for Ichigo to awaken, but waiting for Ulquiorra to come home. Waiting for the princess's knight to come whisk her away to a far away place…and she would tell him how she felt, and like a fairytale, they would live happily ever after. And she would grow old, and despite his hollow form, in her dreams, he would grow old too, and they would have children, and grandchildren.

And her name would be Orihime Schaeffer.

At least, that was how she dreamed it, but she knew…it would never be that way. Not as long as he wasn't here.

Tatsuki told her all the time that he wasn't coming, that he'd never come, that the bracelet she secretly kept so close to her despite the fact that it had no power…meant nothing. Tatsuki told her to stop clinging to his memory, that it was ruining her. That she couldn't hold onto a job because she was always thinking of him, that she was doing bad in University because she was so focused on her Ulquiorra, that she would never become a doctor and heal people with medicine like she'd hoped for if she stopped clinging to a spirit who was gone forever.

She remembered smiling at Tatsuki with the saddest smile of all the worlds and replying, "Silly Tatsuki. Ulquiorra is alive somewhere, and one day, he'll come back."

Recently, she'd stopped doing that altogether. She just shook her head and let Tatsuki talk away.

As of today, she didn't do anything.

"I miss you…Ulquiorra…" she whispered, sobbing lightly and curled up into a little ball on the floor of her home. She was like a scared little kitten, trying to face the world on its own. "I wish you were here…"

Her sweater today was teal, the same color as his beautiful eyes, from what she remembered. Did she remember properly? Or was she forgetting his face, even? His face, which always looked so sad, but as she saw in their last moments together, could really be so happy…

She had the worst case ever of Stockholm Syndrome, she concluded. But she couldn't help it. She couldn't help the fact that she, Inoue Orihime, was in love with the Arrancar, Ulquiorra Schaeffer.

"I don't care if you're supposed to be the bad guy…" she sobbed into her arms. "I just want to see you…"

She was like this for a good hour before she calmed down and brought herself to the couch to mope like moping was going out of style. She had been so mopey ever since they returned from Hueco Mundo, and with many reason compared to the others…even though she tried to hide it with huge smiles and pointless talk, sometimes they caught on. Even Ichigo started to notice, thickheaded as he was.

_"What's gotten into you lately, Orihime?" the orange-haired culprit asked as he leaned against the guardrails on the roof._

_ She giggled, a silly and slightly taken aback expression on her face. "What do you mean, Kurosaki-kun?" she asked brightly. Airheaded as ever, of course…_

_ "You only smile when you see people around. And even then, it's really fake. Something's been wrong, and it's been wrong for years. Ever since…"_

_ Her smile disappeared. "I know," she replied. Her voice was now even and low. "I…it's a long story. That's all…I'm just a little down…"_

_ Ichigo nodded. "Whatever. You've gotta tell me the truth some time, Orihime, or you're never gonna get over it."_

She sighed and grabbed a pillow to hug in a death grip from the back of the couch. It was a totally new couch; she had been out with the old and in with the new when she returned to try and keep away some of her old memories. Even the picture of her brother that she had out was a different one from the original.

She could feel Ichigo's reiatsu signature roaming around; was he thinking about something? Oh well. She didn't care. She'd gotten so much more sensitive to different kinds of reiatsu since she returned, though…it seemed that her time in Hueco Mundo had helped her with at least some things. Meeting a dashing, yet depressed Espada wasn't the only up-side of the time she spent there.

She also felt Tatsuki's reiatsu at the dojo, where she'd been working as a sensei for a while now. Tatsuki always worked so hard.

And Uryuu was off in the woods. He was probably doing some target practice. Or just being Uryuu. She didn't feel any hollows around him, either way.

She felt around for other familiar reiatsu, just to pass the time…

And then she felt something a little…too familiar. Orihime's eyes shot upen and she sat up. The reiatsu…it was strong, yet well-controlled, and she could almost feel…a nihilistic aura…

"Ulquiorra."

She chanted his name many more times; so many as she rushed out the door, down the steps, running out in front of cars to desperately follow the reiatsu she knew so well. _Please don't disappear again, Ulquiorra…_

Everything was a blur. Her surroundings meant nothing. All that had meaning was that familiar feeling of his presence…that feeling that made her heart want to burst from its chest for more reasons than just tiredness from running too much.

Then she saw him.

She stood there, and he stood there, a face off like no other before, where time stood still between them.

"Ul…qui…" she choked out as her eyes hungrily traced his whole figure. The pale skin, white as snow; the tear lines running down his face from his eyes; the one painted lip; the silky black hair; the helmet of a mask over his head; and the pristine white clothes that the espada wore. It was all _him_. Her Ulquiorra. Her captor, her guard, her knight, her one and only love.

"_ULQUIORRA!_"

Orihime rushed forward and caught him in the tightest and closest hug of a lifetime. She sobbed into his coat, inhaled his perfect scent, gripped his coat for dear life.

"I…I love you, Ulquiorra…" she said between sobs, bringing the brightest of smiles on her face. "I love you so much…"

Oh, how long had she wanted to say that?

Ulquiorra's lips, for the first time she had ever seen, curled upwards into a smile.

And it was the sweetest smile she had ever known.

"Woman," he said in that perfect, beautiful voice that she missed ever so much. "The heart you have shown me has missed very much. Thank you…for giving me a heart. Now I am finally happy."

She smiled brilliantly at him, and he brought his arms tightly around her, bringing her face closer to his. The leaves around them swirled in the wind, and the empty streets of outer Karakura didn't seem to exist as two lovers shared the happiest embrace in their life.

Then their lips met sweetly, and all was well with Orihime again. This was the very fairy tale she had always dreamed of…with him. Three long years of waiting, and now, she would have an eternity of happiness.

"I always knew you'd come back…Ulquiorra."

**A/N: **_Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review and let me know! Also, I wanna know if I should make this a full-blown story instead of just a short oneshot. X3_

_ I love you all! Have a SUPER AWESOME thanksgiving, everybody! Shop safe! And ship plenty of Ulquihime while you're at it!_


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